THE BEGINNING OF URBANIZATION IN DOUALA (1884-1914)
THE BEGINNING OF URBANIZATION IN DOUALA (1884-1914)

Summary/Abstract: For several centuries, the Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, French and English traded in slaves and tropical products on the Wouri estuary. The main providers of these slaves were the residents of the Duala who at the same time were the obligatory intermediaries. Before being a city, Douala is therefore above all a site and port situation (Mainet (1981: 1). The exchanges which developed thereafter turned to the advantage of Europeans thanks to their technical superiority. CameroonTown by the British on Duala lands since 1840 which became Kamerunstadt after the capture of this territory by the Germans in 1884, reflects the problem of European mercantile, cultural and political domination in Africa in the 19th century, which also recurs in all scientific debates today. The strong immigration observed in the city of Douala during the period between the wars is due to the economic boom that it has experienced since the German occupation and which continued after the change of colonizer. As a result, Douala on the eve of the reunification of the two Cameroonians in 1961 is a city with two faces: an indigenous construction on the one hand and a euro enterprise. Pean on the other hand. The purpose of this article is to analyze this process of construction of the city of Douala from constructivist and diffusionist theories, this study intends to demonstrate that Douala is above all a site and a port situation occupied by the natives, then a construction colonial and finally a land of immigration thanks to its economic functions.

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